Feds celebrate Intellectual Property Day with more IP cops

On the 10th annual World Intellectual Property Day, the US announces a major …

Yesterday was World Intellectual Property Day. Though not usually thought of as a gift-giving holiday, the US did take the opportunity to give something to IP rightsholders: 35 new federal officials focused on domestic and international IP crimes.

The Department of Justice has created 15 new Assistant US Attorney positions, all part of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) program. The new attorneys will be scattered across the country.

The FBI also gets 20 new Special Agents that will focus on "four geographic areas with intellectual property squads, and increase investigative capacity in other locations around the country where IP crimes are of particular concern." The four locations are LA, San Francisco, New York, and Washington, DC.

Given that the FBI only has 31 existing special agents focused on IP crimes, this is a major increase in Bureau manpower.

"Theft of intellectual property—from inventions to trademarks and copyrights, to industrial designs and trade secrets—is a worldwide problem," said Assistant Director Gordon M. Snow of the FBI Cyber Division in a statement. "It affects individuals and corporations financially and can threaten public safety. The additional FBI agents will significantly strengthen the efforts of our squads investigating intellectual property rights violations and help bring to justice those who seek to profit from intellectual property theft."